Site Engineer

Up here in West Bengal, specifically in the 24 Parganas North district, things move at a different pace. Our base is in Village Nanna, right near the Jetia post office. The pin code is 743135. It is a bit of a walk from the main road, but that is where the work is. Being a site engineer in a place like this means you spend a lot of time on your bike going between different plots. The soil around here can be tricky, so we have to be careful with the footings. It’s mostly residential work, helping people get their homes built without the walls cracking later on. There isn't a big sign outside or a glass front. It’s just a house where we keep the transit level and the measuring tapes. Most of the people we work with are neighbors or folks from the nearby villages. We get a lot of rain during the monsoon, which usually shuts down the sites for weeks. That's when we sit inside and catch up on all the paperwork and calculations. The North 24 Parganas area is crowded but there is still a lot of building going on. We just try to make sure the brickwork is straight and the mortar mix is right. It isn't complicated, but it requires being there every single day to watch the workers. You can't leave things to chance if you want the roof to stay up properly.